Cultural Regeneration & Global Neoliberal Political Economies

8/3/2019 Cultural Regeneration & Global Neoliberal Political Economies

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Hallie JonesMay 4th, 2006

Cultural Regeneration & Global N eoliberal Polit ical Economies:Amsterdam A Case Study


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Introduction.

This paper seeks to explore the practice of urban design as a function of

cultural policy for regenerating declining central city cores. I argue that the

practice and implementation of cultural policy for the purpose of economic

development and inter-city competition in the global marketplace reinforces the

globalized neoliberal political economy. A discussion of the city of Amsterdam is

used to provide an example of how the process is playing out, in terms of its

urban design, place-marketing, and disassembling of its social welfare state.

This paper will look specifically at the tools of urban design as they are used by

city planners as a means to appeal to the so-called creative-class. Additionally,

this paper places Amsterdam in the larger context of the global political economy

and looks at how globalization has shaped, and is shaping, the city.

The Global Neoliberal Polit ical Economy and Cities

In order to discuss the concept of urban cultural policy, it is important to

first develop an understanding of why it exists as a means to regenerating

declining central cities. Specifically, why are central cities in decline and what

are cultural planning initiatives attempting to address? As noted by Nijman

(1999), cities are attempting to reconcile their globally-oriented economic

functions with the locally-rooted effects it places on society and culture. One of

the main themes running thru the globalization thesis is that because of

advances in technology, transportation, and information systems, corporations

have become independent global entities that are no longer territorially beholden


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to a specific country, government, or set of laws. As a result, cities across the

globe have become locked into an inter-local competition to attract mobile

private capital investments and jobs. (Nijman, 1999; Wansborough, 2000;

Montgomery, 2003; Peck, 2005; Florida 2004).

The results of inter-city competition are all too familiar, from Hong Kong

to Amsterdam to Louisville. Richard Florida begins his argument in Revenge of

the Squelcherswith the discussion of an 875,000 square foot Rite Aid distribution

warehouse outside of Boston. He notes that $7.1 million in taxpayer money

went to help build the warehouse. Florida predicts that several million more in

public sector subsidies to the private corporation are still to come in a mnage of

forms, such as roads, tax incentives, infrastructure investments, and

transportation for workers who live in the central city. He argues that this

practice appears to be state-sponsored socialism instead of a free market

(Florida, 2004).

The example of the Rite Aid distribution warehouse is one of several ways

that the cycle of mobile capital plays out. The following, more commonly

discussed examples are derived from various literature concerning urban politics

and urban political economies (Montgomery, 1990; NewRules.org; Mitchell 2000;

Shuman 1998; Williamson, et al 2002) The Wal-Marts, Best-Buys, and McDonalds

type of chain stores (food and retail) that move into a locality destroy the local

economy, and siphon money out of circulation in the local economy by rerouting

the profits to a faraway corporate headquarters. Montgomery (1990) complains


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of an utterly banal. transatlantic monoculture. These corporations generally

have no local roots, and therefore contribute little to the city by means of

philanthropic support. They pay lower wages to their workers, offer fewer

benefits (if any at all) then the locally-owned businesses they ran out of

operation, and also have a propensity to be environmentally destructive. Big box

chains tend to build huge stores which require massive infrastructure investment,

and they are generally located on the outskirts of towns, which consumes green

farm land by turning it into an ocean of pavement. Other corporations, such as

chemical plants, might be major regional polluters. The fact that their corporate

governors are not residents in these locations (thus, their children and families

do not have to breathe the air), makes the practice of environmental

irresponsibility convenient (Montgomery, 1990; NewRules.org; Mitchell 2000;

Shuman 1998; Williamson, et al 2002).

In addition to the previously mentioned broad negative externalities

associated with the neoliberalization of the global political economy, urban

localities are also subjected to many additional devastating effects on their daily

realities. Since cities are competing for jobs and investment, they have to offer

incentive packages to attract investment, which lowers the tax base and

decreases social services expenditures. Increasingly, cities find themselves to be

in a helpless situation. They undermine their local economic autonomy by

becoming dependent on outside, mobile capital investments to keep their

residents employed.


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Additionally, because a corporation can decide to disinvest in a city at any

given moment, they have the upper hand in terms of power dynamics. This

arrangement defeats democracy at the local level, as residents are denied access

and the ability to participate in the decisions that shape their local realities.

Rather, democracy is replaced with an authoritarian decision-making process

marshaled by unelected, unidentifiable, corporate CEOs under the guise of the

free market (NewRules.org; Mitchell 2000; Shuman 1998; Williamson, et al

2002). In reality, the global neoliberal political economy it is a system of

corporate welfare that subsidizes the international economic elite, while

marginalizing the concepts of social and environmental welfare as nothing more

than loathsome governmental hand-outs for the lazy masses or mere communist,

leftist, anti-competitive, regulatory burdens.

Decline and Hopes for Regeneration thru Cultural Policy

Now that weve developed an understanding of the problem, we must

next look to the problem of decaying central cities. As stated earlier, the process

of economic, corporatist globalization has a tendency to send older town centers

into decline. Decline is the end result of various converging problems, such as

small businesses being driven under, disinvestment in public infrastructure (such

as transit systems, utilities, public schools, libraries, etc), sprawl, and increased

crime rates (Kotkin and Siegel, 2004; Duany et al, 2001; Williamson, et al 2002).

Kotkin and Siegel note that there has been a history of fads that city politicians

and economic development officials tend to grasp onto as a magic bullet for


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rebuilding their inner cities and reestablishing the middle class (Kotkin and

Siegel, 2004). They point to the 60s and 70s downtown malls, the 80s and 90s

convention centers and stadiums, and identify the new fad as the latte index,

referring to the density of Starbucks as a measure of pending economic success

(Kotkin and Siegel, 2004).

What Kotkin and Siegel are referring to is the current school of economic

development and city planning thought that places culture at the center of its

strategy for growth. The creative economy, the creative class, cultural

regeneration, caf culture, cultural planning, these are various monikers

used to refer to what Peck coins as being the supply-side promotional strategies

that are globally reproduced to compete for mobile capital investment, jobs, and

discretionary [tourist] spending (Peck, 2005). Global urban creative-warfare, or

the my city is cooler than your city battle, entrenches cities in a process of

publicly subsidizing the commodification of culture for the purpose of place

marketing with an artistic intonation. It is the contemporary version of the 60s

and 70s downtown malls.

The Carnegie Mellon economist Richard Florida has become associated as

the father of this school of thought over the past four years. However, cultural

planning and policy has roots stemming back much earlier. A basic literature

review on EBSCO turned up several articles published in various academic

journals prior to the publication of Richard Floridas popular book, The Rise of the

Creative Class. The earliest discussion that surfaced under the search terms of


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urban culture and urban design (which represent the co-mingling of the two

concepts) was an article by John Montgomery in the U.K.-based journal Planning

Practice and Research. In his article Cities and the Art of Cultural Planning,

Montgomery criticizes U.K. cities for being less lively, diverse, and stimulating

than continental European cities (Montgomery, 1990). He discusses the effects

of big box retail and notes that the result has been growth by civic depletion.

He reasons that the cause of this disparity is rooted in the British planners lack

of imagination and their failure to invoke a cultural approach to urban

development. Montgomery blames the lack of culture for a diminution in the

quality of urban living (a strong sense of place, civic pride, livability, and

citizenship).

Montgomery and others (who follow), generally start their arguments with

an effort to define the concept of culture. In general, they tend to refer to the

sense of place and ways of life of a city and its residents, including how they

spend their time working, eating, being entertained, thinking, talking, relating to

each other, etc In his 1997 article, Caf Culture and the City: The Role of

Pavement Cafs in Urban Public Social Life, Montgomery has refined his concept

of culture by using the term urban public social life. In general, both of

Montgomerys articles point to the battle between European cities for being the

most cultural, which is a necessary precondition for regenerating central cities.

Richard Floridas pop cultural book, The Rise of the Creative Class: And

How its Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life, has made


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him not only wealthy, but also a star in the world of city planning. Florida piggy-

backs his creative class concept on the building trend of cultural policy

literature. He make his argument by connecting it with the white-collar

professions he identifies as being creative with post-materialist concerns, and

which therefore support and seek out a cultural city. Floridas concept of the

creative class is predicated on the notion that white-collar professionals,

creative workers, do not move to cities for jobs, but rather select locations

based on the urban culture. He invented indices for measuring a citys culture

(concentration of bohemian artists, gay population, technology workers), and

posits that the citys potential for overall economic development and future

growth rests upon its ability to embrace his three Ts Talent, Technology, and

Tolerance in order to attract the creative class.

Florida has attracted critics from both the right and the left. From the

right, neoliberal friends of big business criticize the fact that cities all around the

world have embraced his rhetoric and are implementing cultural policy in an

attempt to spur economic development, while raising taxes on business to pay

for it. In The Curse of the Creative Class, Steven Malanga accuses Florida of

making dubious leaps in logic by assuming a causal connection between his

indexes and economic growth. He also objects to the economics Florida uses to

support his theories. Malanga points to Floridas talent magnets, New York and

San Francisco, arguing that they actually experienced a net negative domestic

migration pattern. Malangas largest peeve is the fact that a generation of


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leftish policy-makers and urban planners are uncritically implementing what he

derogatorily refers to as a Floridazed brand of big government spending

policies.

Floridas socio-economically concerned critics in the center and on the left

point to the subordination of more pressing causes to yet another scheme

focused primarily on an economic development agenda as the cure-all for

societys problems. Centrists Kotkin and Siegel concede that Floridas appeal is

easy to understand, as it offers a way around confronting the tough problems of

failing schools, poor zoning and regulatory policies that stifle business, and thick

urban politics with an anti-everything bias that deflects entrepreneurial

investment. They equate the signing of the Memphis Manifesto by the Creative

100 (espousing the mission to remove the various barriers to creativity:

mediocrity, sprawl, intolerance, poverty, etc) to the 1934 Soviet Constitution.

Rather, they advocate for common sense approaches to tackling hard

problems, such as more policing, public schools not under the control of teachers

unions, and a business-friendly environment.

Pecks critique of Florida comes from the far left. He argues that the

notion of catering to the creative class is worse the chasing down private mobile

capital investment because the creative class is a vague, semi-autonomous

collection of individual decision makers who can never be pinned down. His

point is that at least you can target a business to come into your city and provide

jobs. Under Floridas creative class strategy, cities are indulging in selective


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forms of elite consumption and social interaction, which is elevated to the status

of a public policy objective. The creative class, according to Pecks summary of

Floridas theory, is dependent upon people trapped in low-wage service jobs

who cater to their lifestyle. Peck reiterates that the basis of the creative class

economic development agenda is predicated on and reinforces the profoundly

neoliberalized urban landscapes by locking cities into zero-sum competitions for

mobile capital investment, jobs, and mass tourism. In other words, cultural

policy initiatives do not disrupt [the] urban policy orthodoxy, they instead

pander to the major sources of the problem in the first place. Peck argues that

creative-city strategies are designed for the neoliberalized terrain. They rest on

the assumption of a hollowed out nation state in which the human scale is no

longer the determinant of meaningful social actions, and creativity is derived

from distant and dysfunctional forces beyond individual control.

Peck also points out that the popularity of Floridas book can be linked to

the favorable ratings he gave to cities like New York and San Francisco, who tout

his book therefore providing him with indirect marketing and promotion. Peck

notes that Florida periodically revises his tables, indexes, and rankings to

generate national interest and to continuously build support for his thesis. He

points to the fact that Floridas organization sells reports to cities for $495, and

then suggests the next step is to invite him to speak to the local decision

makers. According to Peck, Floridas speaking fee is now in the five figure range.

Additionally, Peck points out that Florida has written a new book called The


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Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent, in which he

argues that U.S. cities are the impending victims of massive creative-class

attrition to more competitive Northern European and Canadian cities. His final

point is that the creative city trend is saturated in and superficially oblivious to

the prevailing market ideology, and that it enables elite growth machines to

glorify gentrification as a positive model for success.

The criticisms of cultural policy initiatives in terms of their reinforcement

of neoliberal urban political economies are evident in the discussions of

Montgomery (1990) and Griffiths (2006). Both authors frankly discuss the battle

of European cities for the title of most cultural in the clear terms of being the

most competitively positioned to attract investment. More specifically, they are

referring to the European Capitol of Culture competition, of which Amsterdam

was the 1987 winner and Rotterdam the 2001 winner. According to Griffiths

(2006), many smaller former industrial cities are locked into a competition

between cities that are a part of the established hierarchy of urban cultural

destinations. Montgomery (1990) discusses the weapon for mayors of these

cities as being quality of urban life and a sense of place, which gives them hope

for attracting investment, relocating companies, and would-be employees.

Montgomery (1990) points to Barcelona, Milan, Paris, and Berlin as centers of

culture based on their concentrations of fashion, finance and innovation. Yet,

the discussion does not go further to tackle issues of socio-economic justice, or

to define the notion of developing small-scale economies that are locally rooted.


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Urban Design as a Function of Cultural Policy

What exactly does cultural policy or creative city planning look like?

Firstly, it is a given that these initiatives are almost always connected to the

larger goals of economic development, place marketing, and city competition for

capital investment. Cultural objectives are now informing the process of urban

design. Urban design professionals understand how the built environment

fosters cultural development, and intervene with the tools to push the physical

environment in the cultural direction (Wansborough, 2000). In other words,

physical design tactics are used to achieve the policy objective of cultural

regeneration in blighted and declining urban environments, all of which are

supposed to be good for economic development on a larger scale. These

physical design initiatives are part of cultural policies, such as percent for art

programs, art districts, and cultural quarters. This section of the paper will

outline the characteristics of urban design commonly being used as part of the

cultural regeneration equation.

Starting out, Montgomery (1990) describes his definition of cultural

planning as being holistic approaches that embraces three main sub-areas:

cultural economics and production, cultural policy and the arts, urban design and

revitalization. He notes that the primary concern is consumption of the arts and

their provision. Montgomery outlines the objectives, which consist of achieving a

balanced provision of the arts, programming of year-round events, ensuring

multiple venues, supporting and sustaining the arts, and finding additional means


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of funding to ensure diversity and choice. He notes that cities in North America

and Northern Europe are using art as a means for branding and re-imaging the

city to attract tourists and business elites. Wansborough (2000) agrees, adding

that the idea of using art for city marketing purposes was developed in the USA

by urban growth coalitions of banks, corporations, property developers, arts

organizations, and local governments, which produce strategies for consumption

of the arts by locals and tourists.

Montgomery (1990; 1997) and Wansboroughs (2000) discussions of the

role of urban design in cultural regeneration are in lockstep. Wansborough

discusses the integration of arts policy with mundane services such as transit,

crime prevention, and hard/soft forms of services. Montgomery (1990)

advocates for the fusion of policy with support services (such as trolleys for

gallery hops). He also makes the case that in order to be successful cities need

to combine popular culture with select elite and avant garde lifestyles. The two

authors prophesize about potential contributions of creative/cultural policies in

an almost identical manner. Their lists include the following:

Public art, mixed-use development, and cultural quarters forenvironmental improvement

Revitalization of run-down areas, or development of a criticalmass with the right balance of socio-economic use to make anarea work, or restoring derelict areas via cultural repurposing

(translation. gentrification) Development of an evening economy, or consumption that

generates economic activityWansborough (2000) jumps into a philosophical overview of the post-

modern approach to urban design. He explains that it represents a return to


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traditional urban processes and spaces within the context of new development.

He points to the newly revived interest in street grids and public squares, an

ethos of conservation, the elevated importance of localism and historic

preservation, with an emphasis on uniqueness and a concern for continuity in

tradition and forms. He discusses the physical attributes associated with the

trend, which includes a mixture of building types, sizes and uses (residential,

commercial, and cultural), human scale, individual character, and intrinsic

identity. In other words, the ideas are to move into the old built environment

and develop within the existing framework a high concentration of cultural

facilities with clear identification, repurpose warehouses for loft living, and using

public art to enhance the existing built environment in general. Wansborough

(2002) points out that urban development corporations have been moving into

declining areas to develop concert halls, galleries, and museums. He outlines the

synergy of mixed-use developments and cultural districts that attract tourists

and locals because if the various offices, shops, cafs, restaurants, and cultural

facilities.

Both authors offer lists of specific formulas for achievement of cultural

regeneration objectives, which will thus enable cities to become economically

competitive in the era of globalization. This section of the paper concludes with

the following combined list of strategies and developments from Montgomery

(1990; 1997) and Wansborough (2000):

Cultural animation fireworks, festivals, bars, music


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Venues art centers, galleries, museums, performing art spaces,cultural and museum quarters, music halls

Public space designed for hanging out open storefront windows,outdoor cafs, public squares, permeable streetscape, landscaping,public restrooms, clean streets

Bar programming a pub venue circuit with things such as music,pub theater, and jazz in wine bars

Communications a whats on bulletin on cable, signage, eventpromotion, kiosks

Promote and grow the caf and restaurant culture Build on unique qualities Sculpture parks, paintings in parks, murals Property improvement Flexible building use Downtown housing Percent for art schemes Public safety Social tourism strategies

Amsterdam: A Case Study Analysis of the Cultural Global City

In this portion of the paper, I seek to make the argument that Amsterdam

is the quintessential global cultural city. I will identify and discuss various

aspects that root Amsterdam firmly in the category of cultural cities that have

embraced the themes of place-marketing, mass tourism, and competition for

capital investment. Amsterdam has a global reputation for tolerance in the

arena of sex and drugs, making it the global capitol of consumption based on

indulgence. It offers the museum quarter for arts and cultural activity

consumption. The redevelopment of Westergasfabriek by MAB, is an example of

an urban development corporation predicated on the basis of cultural

regeneration to revitalize an area in decline, hence property-driven gentrification

development. These items are in addition to heavy investment in a multi-modal


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mass transit system, mixed-use development throughout the city, essentially

legalized graffiti, and countless pavement cafs. This grand cultural celebration

comes at the same time that the Netherlands are in the process of dismantling

the social welfare state and liberalizing their economy under the guise of the

being more competitive and attractive to capital investment.

In his article Cultural Globalization and the Identity of Place: The

Reconstruction of Amsterdam, Nijman (1999) discusses his concept of cultural

globalization as being the transformation cities have made in response to the

globalization of the worlds economy. He emphasizes the phenomenon of mass

tourism and the deliberate change in city-identity politics, using Amsterdam as

an example. Nijman (1999) traces the historically developed identity of the city

under the influences of Calvinism, commercialism, morality, and tolerance and

juxtaposes the authentic city with the present-day sex and drugs image that is

promoted for the purpose of global mass tourism.

Nijman (1999) argues that Amsterdams image as being a haven for

moral permissiveness is relatively new, and that it not only supersedes the

historic and modern achievements of the city but also is a contradiction of the

authentic culture. He criticizes the intricate blend of authenticity and

artificiality as making it difficult to know the real Amsterdam. Nijman outlines

Amsterdams history of being the center of Dutch society since the 16th century

as being the largest and most important port city until it was surpassed by

Rotterdam. He notes that Amsterdam is quite possibly the birthplace of


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capitalism, and relates its economic prosperity to the Protestant work ethic which

values saving and investment while frowning on lavish spending and hedonistic

lifestyles. Nijman (1999) notes that Calvinism inspired simple living, an

appreciation for the ordinary, and a distaste for extravagance, all of which is fully

represented in plain Dutch architecture when juxtaposed with French or Italian

architectural grandeur of the same period. He notes that even the wealthy

merchants built modest homes because the culture promoted a sort of

embarrassment of riches.

Nijman (1999) argues that the historic tradition of tolerance in Amsterdam

is in relation to a diversity of religious beliefs and national backgrounds. He

recounts the waves if immigrants coming into Amsterdam, from the Spanish

Jews to the Flemish to the Lutheran Germans. In terms of Amsterdams

egalitarian culture, Nijman (1999) equates this development as a response to

dealing with the steep wealth divide in the late nineteenth century. He attributes

more contemporary egalitarian forces to the anti-establishment post-WWII

attitude of the city, the presence of two universities with a high concentration of

youth, the 60s revolution, and the squatter movement.

Nijman (1999) declares that the most popular Amsterdam trait currently is

tolerance, which is the result of the commodification of its image for place-

marketing. To him, people go to Amsterdam to enjoy the entertaining spectacle

of tolerance and to let it all hang out. He argues that the historic central city

has been brilliantly transformed into a theme park resting on the basis of the


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normalcy of sex and drugs, which gives the illusion of authenticity to foreigners

that are easily charmed by its appearance because they are accustomed to more

artificially contrived forms of entertainment. The theme park survives because it

uses a pay-per-consumption model; if you have a prostitute you pay for it based

on time, if you smoke a pound of marijuana you pay for it based on weight.

Nijma (1999) traces the theme park boundaries from Central Station to Damrak,

Dam Square, Rokin, Het Spui, Leidschestraat, Leidscheplein, and into the

Vondelpark; he also includes the adjacent areas of the red light district,

Damstraat, Waterlooplein, Regulier, Breestraat, and Amsterstraat. He notes that

tourists are simply looking at other tourists along this route, and that the dead

give away of the artificiality should be the fact that all the signs, menus, and

information is primarily in the English language. Nijman (1999) points out that

the central city is tolerant of specific sub-cultures, but not of families and the

elderly. The population of the central city is relatively homogenous, consisting of

white Dutch 20 and 30 somethings.

Lastly, Nijman (1999) argues that the locals are largely removed from the

theme park grid. He adds that the theme park is a reflection of the fact that

Amsterdam has always been predominantly devoted to making money, which is

why a glass of tap water cost $2. Amsterdam, he argues, specializes almost

exclusively in consumer services and foreign tourism, and that the newly

contrived identity is highly superficial. To Nijman (1999), Amsterdam has turned

into a caricature or mutant reflection of its past. The citys authentic culture


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lives in the shadows as its commercial money-maker shakes that thing in the

central city for tourists from all over the globe.

Amsterdams museum quarter is another manifestation of cultural policy.

That museumplein is a product of modern cultural policy is refutable. The

development of the museum quarter began in the 1800s (class lecture, also

www.amsterdam.info/museumquarter). It could be argued that the Dutch are

actually the pioneers of the cultural quarter concept. Certainly this historic

development contradicts Montgomerys (2003) statement that the concept can

be traced back to the early 1980s U.S. and U.K. developments. History being

noted, the cultural or museum quarter has emerged as a cornerstone of cultural

policy and development, and therefore, the museumplein will be placed in the

contemporary context.

The museum quarter of Amsterdam features a high concentration of

cultural venues within relatively close spatial proximity to each other, to the

central station, and transit stops run directly through its center. The

Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gough Museum,

Coaster Diamonds, Concertgebouw, and several hotels, pavement cafs,

restaurants, art galleries, shoe stores, and designer boutiques are clustered

together into the area. The museum quarter is marketed heavily in most tourist

literature and is prominent on the tourism and convention boards website.

Tourists can purchase tickets to most of the attractions in the museumplein from

locations around the city. I purchased tickets to the Rembrandt and Caravaggio
http://www.amsterdam.info/museumquarterhttp://www.amsterdam.info/museumquarter


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exhibit from a tourist information booth on Leidscheplein. Regardless of the fact

that Amsterdams museum quarter is the product of over a century old planning

decisions, the fact is that it is a shining success and it is a representative

example of a well oiled cultural machine based on arts consumption.

The Westergasfabriek Culture Park development is another example of the

cultural city model in action. The former coal-gas production facility turned

brownfield was redeveloped by MAB Group (Koekebakker, 2003). Koekebakker

(2003) discusses the relationship between the Urban District of Westerpark and

real-estate developer MAB in the appropriately titled a cultural enterprise

chapter three of his book. The real-estate developer works on the model of

gentrification of urban areas in decline in order to profit from boosted property

values. According to the Koekebakker (2003) book, their formula includes

residential, commercial, and leisure facilities. Koekebakker (2003) notes the

double advantage for MAB as being the rise in property values and the

promotion of the companys image as a partner with the best interests of the

city at heart.

Amsterdam is the quintessential cultural city oriented toward competition

for capital investment, place-based marketing, and mass tourism. It won the

European Capitol of Culture title in 1986 (Griffiths, 2006) and the city has paid

high priced speaker Richard Florida to come discuss his hipsterization strategies

(Peck, 2005). The superior culture of the city is being celebrated at the same

time the social welfare state is being deconstructed. Numerous conversations


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with university professors, architects, and students in Amsterdam revealed that

social housing is being increasingly converted to market-rate, and state-funded

student benefits are decreasing. The Netherlands was a pinnacle of Western

European socialist democracy until the 1970s when its egalitarianism reached its

peak and the social welfare state became allegedly expanded to proportions

beyond affordability (Nijman, 1999). The Dutch welfare state is being

dismantled while the grassroots movements in Amsterdam are taking a back seat

to the powerful urban growth machine that developed in Amsterdam in the late

1990s alongside the rapidly expanding urban and national economies (Nijman,

1999). The urbanites in Amsterdam are on a trajectory toward living in a city

with steep economic inequalities and public policies geared at catering to elite

interests and tourism.

Conclusion

As discussed, cultural/creative-city policies are predominantly a function of

the neoliberal political economy, which serve to reinforce the dominant economic

development paradigm and uphold the prevailing status quo. Planners, local

governments, and urban growth machines invoke traditional neoliberal rhetoric,

espousing the necessity of competitiveness in order to attract external capital

investment and jobs. Cultural/creative-city strategies devalue local cultures and

artists by providing a mechanism which allows the urban growth coalitions to

market and profit on their backs. Generally, artists are the losers in the creative-

class cultural regeneration game. They rarely increase the sales of their work,


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and their lifestyles become nothing more than an entertainment commodity

(interview any of the gallery owners in downtown Louisville about their sales as

related to trolley hops).

Artists are many times the impetus for the process of gentrification in

declining central city neighborhoods. They have relatively low incomes and

many times, these inexpensive properties in undesirable and underserved urban

neighborhoods are the only properties in their price range. Artists increase their

property investments thru sweat equity by rehabbing old historic homes

(painting, exposing brick, landscaping, refinishing floors, etc) that many times

double as living space and a studio or gallery. Artists who hope to see more like

individuals in their neighborhood tend to alert other artists of good deals on

properties, leading to the development of spatial clusters of artists in particular

areas. Soon, property developers will begin to purchase land or buildings in the

area and the property values begin to rapidly increase. Often times, artists who

are renting in these neighborhoods are run out due to high rents, along with the

other working class renters who were the original residents.

The basic premise of arts and culture consumption is based on reducing

the individual artist to nothing more than an object from which said economic

development potential can be extracted by opportunistic and entrenched elite

power structures. The cultural policies are gladly embraced by struggling arts

organizations that have no broader obligations to protecting the socio-economic

welfare of the larger community, as scarce public funds are redirected from other


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social investments (such as workforce development programs) toward cultural

programs that only serve to benefit a narrow segment of the population.

In general, many of the urban design functions associated with cultural

development initiatives need not necessarily have a high public cost. Pavement

cafs, street furniture, and bike lanes are relatively low-cost public amenities that

have the potential to serve a larger portion of the community than just the so-

called creative class. Mixed-use developments are more flexible and can help to

make rehabilitation of old structures or the development of new structures more

economically feasible.

The wrong turn that the creative-city strategies take is in the fact that

they seek to reinforce neoliberal political economics. Rather than upholding this

failed cycle of self-defeating practices, creative-city strategies should seek to

develop place-based, localized economies on the basis of import substitution (a

concept that argues the path to economic independence is refusing to accept

mobile capital investments, replacing imported resources and goods with locally

produced resources and goods, and not consuming beyond the means the local

region can sustain). The notion of developing an intricate network of

disorganized capital and small businesses that are territorially rooted can serve

to reinstate a communitys economic independence, begin to ameliorate

environmental problems, and restore the health of democracies from the bottom

up (because Democracy does not have a trickle down effect).


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Certainly the arts and culture deserve representation at the local level.

But do the deserve overrepresentation as more serious social problems are being

put to the side? Most artists would deplore the tactics of the creative city if they

understood the political economics behind it. Additionally, they would likely

object to being commodified as a function of elite wealth accumulation

(especially the elite wealth who comprise the urban growth machine that are

likely not contemporary art collectors). The gentrification that takes place as a

result of creative-city strategies is also a glaring failure. Hopefully efforts to

develop mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods will serve to be a next

generation attempt to refine the process of revitalizing urban neighborhoods.

Not only do we need to be concerned about developing smaller-scale economies,

we also need to develop an ethos of inclusion and assimilation of all people,

regardless of income, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, education level,

profession, and ethnicity. It is important to deconstruct the creative-class and

cultural regeneration rhetoric to uncover the inherent flaws. Only by learning

from mistakes can society move forward toward a more promising future.


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Resources

Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's TransformingWork, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. Basic Books, 2003 edition.

Florida, Richard. "The Great Creative Class Debate: Revenge of the Squelchers."The Next American City. Accessed on 4/26/2006 fromhttp://www.americancity.org/article.php?id_article=39.

Griffiths, Ron. City/Culture Discourses: Evidence from the Competition to Selectthe European Capital of Culture 2008. European Planning Studies. 2006. 14(4).

Koekebakker, Olof. Westergasfabriek Culture Park: Transformation of a FormerIndustrial Site in Amsterdam. NAi Publishers, 2003.

Kotkin, Joel and Siegel, Fred. "Too Much Froth: The latte quotient is a badstrategy for building middle-class cities. Democratic Leadership Council,Blueprint Magazine. January 8,2004. Accessed on 4/26/2006 fromhttp://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=252300&kaid=141&subid=301.

Malanga, Steven. "The Curse of the Creative Class." City Journal, Winter 2004.Accessed 4/26/2006 from http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_curse.html.

Mitchell, Stacy. The Hometown Advantage: How to Defend Your Main StreetAgainst Chain Stores and Why it Matters. Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2000.

Montgomery, John. Cities and the Art of Cultural Planning Planning Practice &Research. 1990. 5(3).

Montgomery, John. Caf Culture and the City: The Role of Pavement Cafs inUrban Public Social Life. Journal of Urban Design. 1997. 2(1): 83-103.

Montgomery, John. Cultural Quarters as Mechanisms for Urban RegenerationPart 1:Conceptualising Cultural Quarters. Planning, Practice & Research. 2003.18(4): 293306.

Nijman, J. Cultural Globalization and the Identity of Place: The Reconstruction ofAmsterdam. ECUMENE. 1999. 6(2): 146-164.

Peck, Jamie. "Struggling with the Creative Class." June 19th, 2005. Accessed on4/26/2006 from http://www.geography.wisc.edu/faculty/peck/Peck-strugglingwiththecreativeclass.pdf.
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Shuman, Michael H. Going Local: Creating Self Reliant Communities in a GlobalAge. Free Press, 1998.

Wansborough, Matthew, et al. The Role of Urban Design in CulturalRegeneration. Journal of Urban Design. 2000. 5(2): 181-197.

Williamson, T. et al. Making a Place for Community: Local Democracy in a GlobalEra. Routledge, 2002.

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Cultural Regeneration & Global Neoliberal Political Economies

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